Vomiting blood

[needful1]

Hello all. My friend was diagnosed with Cirrhosis several months ago and last night apparently vomited blood for hours, had nosebleed (which he's been having for months now) and was passing blood through his back passage. He won't go to the hospital as he is too scared of being kept in. I've tried to persuade him that he must go, but he's terrified of hospitals and he won't let me or his family see him. I don't know how to help. Surely if it's reached this stage, it's likely to happen again? Any advice would be appreciated.

[AyrshireK]

Your friend unfortunately NEEDS to go to hospital as a matter of URGENCY - this is a life and death emergency. If he is loosing blood via all those channels he literally can have only hours to live if he does not get the source of the bleeding identified and stemmed. This bleeding will NOT stop on its own (he'll have blood clotting issues as demonstrated by the constant nose bleeds) and he will continue to bleed out.

My husband has been repeatedly told by his consultant how close he came to death after he had 7 burst varices in his oesophagus and ended up throwing blood and passing blood from his back passage.

Your friend has to either face the hospital or sadly he won't last very long.

Please try and urge him to get help NOW.

Thoughts with you.

Katie

[needful1 in reply to AyrshireK]

Hi Katie

He is now in the care of the hospital thank goodness. They put him in resuss after 10 mins in A&E and are keeping him in. He hasn't said what they'll be doing, but it's a relief to know he is in the right place.

Thank you so much.

[RodeoJoe]

Yeah he really needs to get to hospital. It sounds like burst varices which need to be banded. Although the procedure is quite straight forward, not getting it done is life threatening.

I have to admit that although it sounds crazy I understand your friends reluctance to go. I was the same when I got really ill, I thought I was dying but didn't want to hear it confirmed. But there's every chance they can fix him up at least for the short term providing he gets straight to the hospital.

[needful1 in reply to RodeoJoe]

Oh thank you so very much for this. I appreciate it. In the meantime, he's actually taken himself to A&E on his doctor's instruction (who he actually called himself a few hours ago as he'd still been vomiting blood and was scared). They told him to go immediately to hospital. His family and I are waiting to hear from him. I'm guessing he'll be kept in. I didn't know what 'banding' is, but from looking it up, it's done by endoscopy and he'll be kept in?

[SAMBS in reply to needful1]

Oh I'm so pleased to read that needful, we are all thinking of your friend his family and you. Don't hesitate to come back to this Community if you need some moral support for yourself also.

[AyrshireK in reply to needful1]

That's the best news, absolutely necessary for him to go to A&E. Fingers crossed they get on top of the situation. Yes I would expect they will definitely keep him in as he'll more than likely need blood transfusions to replace the lost blood as well as other medication to compensate for what has gone on and they will need to do endoscopy and more than likely banding. My husband's cirrhosis only came to light after a massive upper GI bleed and he remained in hospital for 3 weeks though they were investigating the cause of his cirrhosis during that time too. Others on here have had to be put into induced comas and such like as they get over the bleed etc.

He's in the best place now.

Katie

[needful1 in reply to AyrshireK]

Again, thanks to those replying. I'm learning a lot about this from google, but it makes a big difference having contact with people who know about it. We were wondering if a transfusion might be required. At least he'll hopefully get the endoscopy that he's needed, but that he has basically avoided for months and they might see the extent of what is actually going on inside him. He's been given no treatment at all for the cirrhosis so far, so hopefully this could be the start.

[RodeoJoe in reply to needful1]

He'll probably get beta blockers and banding now.

[dckimberly in reply to needful1]

Please be careful about Google and other websites..the info can be confusing and often wrong. Check out this site, or you can look at NIH in the US.

Web MD etc. will scare you have to death, or not enough.

It sounds like varacies, or worse. Is he on the transplant waiting list? I'm guessing he will be after this.

Thinking a good thought for you, and him..

Xx

[SAMBS]

Definitely needful as Katie says - call the paramedics / ambulance yourself! My dad died of the same thing in 1998! He choked to death on his own vomited blood because it drowned his lungs! Sorry to be so brutal!

[needful1]

Thank you very much. It makes all the difference being able to share this with someone who has been through the experience.

[susieanna]

Good luck yo your friend; good to hear he is being treated now/ in the right place; if he hasn't got a specialist; then he needs one.

[scottyboy40]

Hi Needful, So pleased he is now getting the care he needs.

Taking the first step is always difficult.

He's took it now and hopefully this is the start of his recovery.

This is a wonderful site to learn from too. Between here and Dr's you will get all the answers you need.

Good luck and wishing him good health. ☺

[needful1 in reply to scottyboy40]

Thank you so much Scottyboy40. I'm so relieved he is in the safe hands of medical staff. They are doing an endoscopy which will hopefully reveal the extent of the damage. We don't know what to expect next, but will be visiting him in the hospital this evening and hopefully find out more. We had to clean up his house last night which was very disturbing. And in the process we found a number of empty whisky bottles in his bin. So he had still been drinking when he promised he wouldn't touch whisky... I guess this is typical behavior?

[scottyboy40 in reply to needful1]

Hi Needful,Its great that you're encouraging him to ge better, for me it was drink, drugs and H.C.V virus that caused my cirrhosis.Itt took me 3 trips to hospital before I started my road to recovery and"woke up ".

Each addmission nearly dying.

Had all the symptoms but I stopped taking drink drugs and two and a half years later when well enough I had New Harvoni treatment.

I still have Cirrhosis but by being abstinent and making better lifestyle choices some people turn it around.

Specially if alcohol related.

[needful1 in reply to scottyboy40]

Well, I really hope this will be a wake up call for him and that he'll try to turn things around once he's out of hospital... I'm grateful for your reply. Thank you.

[ZABohra]

Blood in vomit is something serious, he should be immediately taken to the hospital.

[needful1]

Hello again all. My friend is being discharge from hospital today. He was kept in for a full week and was desperate to get out from the day he was kept in, hating being trapped. He had banding done on four varices and has been a very sick man as far as we understand. He even thought he'd be coming home the same day as the banding was done. He told us yesterday that the hospital said he shouldn't stop drinking immediately in case of seizures, but gradually come off it with a little alcohol at a time. We thought he was joking and laughed at the very idea, but he said he was serious. Could this really be the case, or is he seriously in denial and making it up? I'd have thought any withdrawal symptoms would've been gone through during this past week of hospitalization?

Thanks for any feedback.